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Tour notes

Each departure date has it's own dedicated tour note, detailing all you need to know about that tour. Whether you've already booked, or weighing up your options, please choose carefully the relevant itinerary for you.

We have the following different versions of the Buddha's Island + Maldive Dhoni Cruise tour available at present.

Information was given regarding activities ,with little chance to opt out, and nothing else to do if one did opt out. Cost of activities were dependent on the number of people participating in any given option. Had this information been given earlier , say the day before we would have been in a better position to make alternative arrangements. So, our leader did not keep us well informed.

What Tips Would You Give To Someone Else Booking This Tour

Make sure you have plenty of local currency before starting the tour. Press the leader for information and possible alternatives for the following days activities.ask for free time if you don't like being constantly herded like school children.

Do You Have Anything Else To Add

If not for the company and good humour of our fellow travellers this would have been a long slow un eventful journey. Maldives snorkelling was brilliant. However here again there were a few problems I have already outlined in an e-mail to Explore.

Our Response

Thank you for your feedback. We are aware that there were some areas where the tour leader on this occasion didn’t really meet the level of performance we or our customers should be able to expect, and these have been addressed both with him and our Sri Lankan agent. Our Operations Manager is going to Sri Lanka in the summer to provide further training, and assess all our current leaders.

5,
24/01/14

Name

Patricia

Tour Name

Buddhas Island and Maldive Dhoni Cruise

Tour Code

SLM

What Was The Highlight Or Most Memorable Moment Of Your Tour

The whole holiday was excellent and well organised. The amazing views and seeing the elephants in their natural environment. The amazing sea on the Maldive Cruise and, of course the snorkelling

How Was Your Explore Tour Leader

Absolutely fantastic. His organisation was amazing and he always put in that extra little bit. He had incredible knowledge and was very good a handling one difficult person on our trip. He couldn't have done more to make our stay in Sri Lanka any better.

What Tips Would You Give To Someone Else Booking This Tour

Definitely take a raincoat and umbrella as it tends to rain a lot.

Do You Have Anything Else To Add

It would have been nice to sample some more local food instead of eating at the standard tourists buffets. I feel that we missed out on the Sri Lankan cuisine

4.5,
27/11/13

Name

Ute Mueller

Tour Name

Buddhas Island and Maldive Dhoni Cruise

Tour Code

SLM

What Was The Highlight Or Most Memorable Moment Of Your Tour

Sigiriya was quite challenging and the elephant safari was amazing. The Maldives are a masterpiece of blue; snorkelling has become my latest passion.

Tour Leader Name

Tikiri + Bongo

How Was Your Explore Tour Leader

Both of them were very caring. Special thanks to the Maldivian crew. Bongo secured my first breaths of snorkeling. He and Adam safeguarded the group whenever we snorkeled. No one hopped into the sea before Younnus had checked the current and captain Moe was my special guardian as I had never snorkeled before. The only thing I/we had to do was to enjoy exploring the reefs. Besides: Don't miss Bablu's cuisine!

What Tips Would You Give To Someone Else Booking This Tour

Do it!

5Eira,
22/03/13

What was the highlight or most memorable moment of your tour?

Maldives ,wonderful trip with great crew. Tour leader was disappointing,but did not spoil my overall trip,would definately go again.Sri Lanka was beautiful,and what lovely people. The hotel at Unawatuna was good,but was not impressed with the management there. Some of the hotels in Sri Lanka were not up to standard,could not understand how they all had the same rating. The cleanliness of some of the bathrooms was not good,but the beds were generally comfortable with clean linen. Again this did not spoil my trip.

Jude was extremely knowledgeable about his Island.Bongo was not forthcoming with information and had to be prodded!;

Our Response

Bongo is a local representative, rather than an Explore tour leader (as indicated on the Tour Notes). But nonetheless, we look for local knowledge and information to be provided, and this has been addressed with him via our agent.

0Elaine Edmondson,
11/02/11

Just come back from a brilliant trip to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Sri Lanka was fairly busy, but with lots of variety. All the ancient historical sites are visited in the first week before heading up into the hills for quite a few cuppa's and sightseeing. The final part of the trip is nice and relaxing with some days at the beach. I enjoyed the amazing rock fortress of Sigiriya as well as the beautiful scenery of the hill country but by far the best bit was the whale watching trip. We were lucky enough to see two huge pods of dolphins as well as two blue whales, a male and female, who we sensitively followed for about an hour whilst they surfaced and then dived again. It was amazing to see the world's largest mammals up close. The hotels on this tour are all of excellent quality including a few real treats in very picturesque locations. If you're a curry fan, then Sri Lankan curries will not disappoint, I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms already! Sadly before long the trip was over but we had the added bonus of the week's Maldive Dhoni cruise to look forward to. On arrival in Male we boarded our small 9 berth dhoni boat, the Seafarer. Now don't expect luxury. The cabins are small but perfectly functional, don't take too much stuff as there's very little storage space (tricky when coming from 2 week sri lanka tour perhaps explore could find a place to store luggage for the week at the airport??). There are 3 toilets and showers on board but again the showers are basic, they only have cold water. The food on board was faultless, we had lots of variety, plenty of fruit and veg and the curries were very mild. Whilst cruising around the crew went fishing and caught lots of fish which we had for lunch and dinner. Fish has never tasted so good. We did on average 2 snorkels per day, all were different and very interesting. One thing to bear in mind is to take sea sickness pills as the sea can get very choppy in a very short space of time. Check the weather for the time of year you intend to go as it can be very changeable and not as hot as in Sri Lanka. The highlight of the Maldives for me though was when my boyfriend proposed to me on a deserted island! It was a complete surprise and turned a brilliant holiday into an unforgettable one! (SLM - 11th December 2010)